Intermediate self taught user here. I will sometimes leverage Shapr3d as my 3D modeling program for designs that are easier (or only reasonably possible) by first creating from other programs that are more art/creative oriented than prototype/machine/industry oriented, exporting from there into a file that I can import into Shapr3D. I have done this several times with success where one time I had to tweak something. It was small and I had assumed that I accidentally bumped a node before the export or something. However, the last two times I’ve done this the issues have been present and in one case egregious to the point of not usable (I can’t share the really bad one, sadly). The other time it was a problem because it was something I need to be repeatable as it leads to a customized 3D printed object.
My workflow includes Affinity Designer as my ‘sketching’ software. I’ve tried this where I export to preserve vectors, preserve visuals, as .dwg and .dxf. In all cases the issue persisted. For the file I can share there are both screenshots and the files to try yourself; I deleted the irrelevant parts as most of it imported find, but that arching segment gets twirled in Shapr.
Any ideas? The breaks the workflow because of unpredictability and the tools used in Affinity for symmetrical, smooth curves, etc. are lost when tweaking the handles in shapr.
Thanks for the quick reply. I wanted to get the question out there before I ran out the door; not at my computer right now. I would love an explanation; like, is AD not considered 2D CAD because of the artistic bent? If so, is there one you recommend, preferably free since it is an intermediate step and I won’t be using it for anything else. I’m on Mac.
As far as uploading the other files the forum wouldn’t let me; I had five bundled together and two were greyed out from file upload. Not sure why. I might be able to work around via wetransfer or something but I think a little more detail and I’ll be able to work it out from there.
Oh it’s greyed out because forum doesn’t support the file, you need to zip it first.
This is my conclusion, I could be wrong but I think this is likely after doing tests with Affinity Designer. My conclusion is AD is not generating fully CAD compatible curve on exports.
For simple curves AD export worked out fine so this time I thought I will draw out all the curves in AD. After I made the body of the plane noticed the curvature was off.
I spent the weekend figuring this out because I’m lot faster in AD.
These all can work with DXF and Mac compatible.
Rhino Works (expensive)
Onshape Works (Free for Hobbyist)
Freecad free but gives Errors
Sovlespace free Crashes
Librecad free but gives Errors
Inkscape free but nothing shows up
QCAD works Cheap.
Because I was getting these error the conclusion is AD is giving problem. Out of all these programs I recommend QCAD, it has 10min timed trial but still good for quick DXF Explode and Export.
As an intermediate step Onshape is fine, I was surprised it imported correctly, while others app gave errors. You just need the DXF converted to continue on Shapr.
If QCAD is no longer there the next option is not exporting as DXF or DWG but as PDF so you can open and save as DXF in Inkscape.
That is a bit interesting.
I get the same thing as you, the top nose curve is shortened when importing the DXF file direct to Shapr.
If I pass it through CAMBAM first then save as DXF, the import to Shapr is then okay.
This is a dxf file exported from S3D and imported back. It matches the original step file perfectly. However, it contains 300 points. I have experienced discrepancies before, and that is why I use as many points as possible before importing the original.
Affinity Designer recently added DWG/DXF export which was exciting, I’m lot faster with AD. Before I had to save it to PDF and Explode in QCAD like you said it adds lot of points. But with AD supporting DWG I thought no longer need to Explode because it’s making a CAD file, but maybe not.
Is that a glider fuselage? I fly DLG, currently working on old school rc plane.
